Top 10 of 2011: Books I've Read

Lisa at A Life Bound by Books, Jessica from Confessions of Bookaholic, Rachel from Fiktshun, and Jaime and Patricia from Two Chicks on Books are hosting a week of looking back and looking forward through the Top 10 of 2011 series. Each day I will be posting a new Top 10 list. I love making lists so it will be nice to recap this year's books with these Top 10 lists.

Top 10 Books I've Read in 2011

Title: The Hunger Games & Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins

Why I loved this book:
I started 2011 with some amazing books. I finally read The Hunger Games series and devoured it all within days and it was just as good as I had heard from friends. If you haven't read it, you MUST read it! I am so excited about the movie coming out in March!

Title: Flat-Out Love
Author: Jessica Park

Why I loved this book:
This book was my surprise hit of the year. I fell really hard for the characters in this story and it was completely unexpected. I loved it from beginning to end and I've been shouting from the rooftops since then trying to get friends to read this as well!

Title: One Day
Author: David Nicholls

Why I loved this book:
This was my favorite love story of the year. It's been a long, long time since I've been heads over heels in love with a love story other than The Time Traveler's Wife. This one came close. I enjoyed it and couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks afterwards. I enjoyed that it wasn't just a straight-forward love story. It checked in on the characters once a year and it let you fill in the blanks as the story went on.

Title: The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
Author: Donalyn Miller

Why I loved this book:
This was my favorite teacher book of the year, of the past few years and dare I say, ever? I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It has been so rewarding to implement components into my classroom this year because my students are devouring books left and right to feed their reading appetites. This book is definitely a pivotal one in my career.

Title: The Christmas Shoes
Author: Donna VanLiere

Why I loved this book:
Every year during Christmas time, I crave Christmas stories whether it be via books or movies. This year, I finally read The Christmas Shoes and even though it was a lot heavier than I was expecting, it satisfied everything I was hoping for in a Christmas story. I also read The Christmas Note and The Christmas Blessing this year and really enjoyed them as well.

Title: Smitten
Authors: Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, Diann Hunt

Why I am loving this book:
I am actually not finished with this book yet. I received it last week via NetGalley, but haven't had time to read with a sick child (stomach flu) and doing all the last minute holiday errands before our Christmas travels. I am really enjoying it though. It reminds me a lot of the TV show, Gilmore Girls, which I absolutely adore because it takes place in a small New England town. It is bound to be one of my favorites of the year.

To round off my top 10, here are my favorite kid-lit books of the year:

Title: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Author: Brian Selznick

Why I loved this book:
The illustrations are absolutely breathtaking. I poured over each and every illustration and it brought so much life to the book that it felt like I was watching a movie and not reading a book. I loved all the details and the story was very intriguing as well!

Title: Wonderstruck
Author: Brian Selznick

Why I loved this book:
Once I finished Hugo Cabret, I had to read this one. It is just as beautiful as Hugo Cabret and even the story was harder to follow, it was still as intriguing and heartwarming.

Title: Dying to Meet You
Author: Kate Klise
Illustrator: M. Sarah Klise

Why I loved this book:
This was another unexpected hit of the year. I received it as a free book from the Scholastic book orders and opened it out of curiosity. Fell in love from the illustrations on the very first page. It was a very fun read full of letters, newspapers and illustrations. My students are currently passing it on from one person to the next in our class as well.

What were your favorite reads this year?